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Luke Ainsworth
is the titular deuteragonist of the series, a blacksmith of great skill, and a talented swordsman. Appearance Luke has brown hair that is mostly cropped except for a waist-long ponytail in which he keeps tied back. He has blue eyes, although his left eye is fake (lost during the creation of Lisa.) He is almost always seen with a white shirt, a black cape, and blue pants. Personality At the beginning of the series, he is very caught up in his own world. He doesn't want anyone, Cecily included, to be a part of his and Lisa's life. He likes being private, and mostly keeps to himself. He is shown to be a bit irresponsible, as seen when he skips an important meeting, and Lisa states that it isn't the first time he has done something like that. As the story progresses, we get to see more of Luke and why he acts the way he does. He puts up an act of indifference, but clearly cares very much about Cecily. To those that he cares about, he's virtually willing to do anything for them. His assistant, and surrogate little sister, Lisa, is one of these people. Luke loves her very much, and is willing to die if it means protecting her. Despite this, he doesn't realize what kind of things Lisa needs, shown when he goes shopping with the girls. Overall, Luke is a bit of a conundrum. He likes to pretend that he doesn't care, but always ends up saving Cecily when she needs it. Background Luke grew up with his father, Basil Ainsworth, at their smithy on the outskirts of town in the seventh district. Three years before events in the story, Luke forged a katana, which he admitted was not very good, for his childhood friend Lisa Oakwood, who had dreams of becoming a knight to protect everyone she possibly could. Lisa Oakwood, bored with waiting for Luke’s father who was busy buying tamahagane, convinced Luke to join her exploring the nearby caves. There, they were attacked by a bound Valbanill. Before his friendship with Cecily, this early encounter with Valbanill served as the most formative event in Luke’s life. Basil rushed into the caves to save his son and Lisa Oakwood but was quickly killed. Lisa Oakwood also died trying to defend Luke. However, before her death, she managed to complete a demon contract by saying her death spell. Lisa Oakwood’s body and spirit merged with the blood of Valbanill and Luke’s own lost left eye to create the demon Lisa. Since that day, he’s practiced blacksmithing in his shop, now named after Lisa Oakwood, doing odd jobs and repairs for people of the Independent Trade Cities. At some point after his father’s death but before events in the story, a coalition of representatives from the independent trade cities, the militant nation, the crowd power, and the empire informed him of the upcoming crisis with Valbanill and approached him to make a sacred sword to reinforce the seal. Recent Events Meeting Cecily While in the city with his companion Lisa, Luke witnesses Cecily Cambell’s sword break in the middle of combat with an insane and violent Jack Strader. He quickly steps in to parry the killing blow and correctly identifies Strader as a veteran of the Valbanill War nearly fifty years before. After Strader flees, Luke snidely criticizes Cecily’s skills as knight and heads back to the Atelier Lisa. The following day, Cecily visits the smithy and requests a katana of her own to replace her broken family sword. She asks that Luke join her on an assigned mission to give her a chance to prove her skills to him. Surprising Lisa, Luke agrees. While on the mission with the knights, Luke witnesses Cecily defeat a group of bandits accused of raiding merchant caravans but is forced to intervene once unhumans attack. Luke makes fast work of the monsters, impressing Cecily with his different style of fighting, due in large part to the katana. The two team up to chase after an escaping bandit. When the bandit stops running, Luke immediately recognizes the bandit’s intent and orders Cecily back as the man completes his demon contract and becomes a large ice beast. Cecily is seriously injured when the monster shoots out shards of ice from its body, and Luke again defends her, breaking his katana in the process. With no other choice, Luke enters the forging spell with Lisa. Cecily defends them both from the demon until the katana, imbued with fire, is ready. Luke defeats the demon and agrees to make Cecily a katana. Friendships Forged After his initial meeting with Cecily, Luke grudgingly becomes part of a new group of friends—himself, Lisa, Cecily, and Cecily’s new charge, the demon sword Aria—mostly through Lisa’s invitation. Constantly searching for ways to craft a sword capable of defeating Valbanill, Luke is interested in Aria’s abilities and her nature as a demon sword, although he respects Aria’s privacy. After Cecily questions Lisa’s happiness, Luke begins to take greater interest in the small things that make her happy, rather than her overall protection. At the festival, he buys her a new outfit, and when Lisa nervously asks for his approval, he presents her with a little matching hat. During Cecily’s presentation of Aria at the fair, Jack Strader attacks once again in an effort to steal the demon sword and transforms into a demon using a demon contract. While Strader initially succeeds, Luke arrives and, through the prodding of both Cecily and Lisa, assists the surviving knights in their fight against Strader. He crafts a new wind-powered katana with Lisa using the forging spell and together with Cecily defeats the demon/Strader. Soon after, Luke and Lisa are confronted by Charlotte E. Firobisher, who comes to the Atelier Lisa to convince Luke to defect to the empire. Luke is disgusted that a girl who does not understand the power of any sword, much less a demon sword, tries to wield one. He quickly defeats Evadne and captures Charlotte. When she reveals that her intent is to also secure Aria, he and Lisa—with Charlotte as their prisoner—rush to the city to save Cecily from Charlotte’s three demon sword-wielding bodyguards, Doris, Margot, and Penelope. With Lisa’s help in the forging spell, he crafts a new katana and defeats the three of them in one blow. The Sacred Blacksmith’s Task Soon after Charlotte and her companions leave for asylum in the militant nation, Luke has a dream of Lisa Oakwood and solemnly decides to pay another visit to her grave. Surprising Lisa and Cecily both, he asks Cecily to accompany him. On the way, he buys flowers for Lisa Oakwood but slides one into Cecily’s hair, making a point that their relationship has deepened greatly in terms of trust and understanding since their initial encounters. At her grave, Luke confesses the “greatest secret on the continent” to Cecily, drawing her into the main crisis of the story: the inevitable awakening of Valbanill once the seal binding him wears off. Now that she knows, he invites Cecily to his meeting that afternoon with representatives from the Independent Trade Cities, the militant nation, the crowd power, and the empire. At the meeting, Luke presents his latest sword, although he admits that it is not strong enough to reseal Valbanill. The representatives harshly criticize Luke for his current inability to produce a perfect sacred sword and lament the loss of his father, who they believe could have made one easily. The leaders threaten Lisa, reminding Luke that they only tolerate her existence because of Luke’s help with the sacred sword. Luke tries to protect Lisa by claiming that he is only using her. However, when the conversation turns to Luke’s supposed role in events three years ago, Cecily jumps to his defense and fiercely denies that Luke forced a demon contract onto Lisa Oakwood. She instead argues that Lisa Oakwood completed the demon contract on her own and out of love to protect Luke and to continue helping Luke even after she was gone. These revelations, brought about by Cecily’s ability to empathize, reinforce Luke and Lisa’s relationship. Already paying greater attention to her happiness since the festival, they come to terms with the unspoken truths about Lisa Oakwood. Lisa first admits her happiness living with and helping Luke. However, their relationship reaches its strongest point after another unhuman—a massive boar covered with demon swords—attacks the city shortly after Luke’s meeting with the representatives. The unhuman targets Lisa, busy picking berries in the forest with Luke. With Cecily and Aria in hot pursuit, the boar collides with Lisa and drives them over a cliff and into a deep ravine below, leaving Luke terrified on the top of the cliff as everyone he cares about tumbles over. Luke throws down a sword, which Lisa uses to drive back the unhuman until help arrives. As they recover from the fight and the potential loss of each other, Luke confesses that he accepts and loves Lisa for whom she is, not whom Lisa Oakwood once was. Confrontation with Siegfried Soon after the incident with the unhuman covered in demon swords, Luke crafts a sheath for Aria, who complains of not feeling well, in exchange for information on demon swords and their connection to Valbanill. Luke learns from her that demon swords are created through their strong hatred for God (Valbanill). Before she leaves, Luke warns her that she will not be able to transform into her human form while sheathed. Several days later, the group meets for dinner and Cecily gets drunk as she angrily complains about her newly assigned mission to escort Siegfried until the upcoming ball. When Luke critiques Cecily’s blind loyalty to her job as knight and forces her to question her abilities, Cecily lashes out and the two quarrel until Cecily storms off. The next day, Siegfried forces Cecily to escort him to the Atelier Lisa where he confronts Luke about Valbanill’s blood present in Lisa. Luke tenses as the truth gets out, consoles Lisa who did not know, and threatens Siegfried. When Siegfried asks Luke for permission to dissect Lisa to learn more about Valbanill, Luke angrily orders him and Cecily to leave. On their way home, without his knowledge, Siegfried attacks Cecily when she defends Luke against Siegfried’s accusations. At the ball, Cecily challenges Siegfried to a duel but freezes when Siegfried grabs her wrist. Luke quickly forces himself between them and demands to fight Siegfried himself. He accuses Siegfried and the empire of forcing demon contracts and using unhumans as weapons. Luke demands to fight Siegfried to the death, even agreeing reluctantly to put Lisa’s demon body up as the prize. As they fight, Lisa admits to Cecily that Aria told them what happened and that Luke is enraged about what happened, especially his role in crafting a sheath for Aria. Luke viciously battles Siegfried, losing his fake eye in the process, until they are broken apart by Hannibal and Francesca and forced to end their duel. Outside, Luke apologies to Cecily for not being able to kill Siegfried but asks if his actions made her feel even a little better. As Cecily reaffirms her desire to help anyone and everyone, Luke asks her to dance. Journey to the Militant Nation Realizing he is running out of time to forge a sword to reseal Valbanill, Luke agrees to accompany envoys to the Militant Power where he will work with their blacksmiths and exchange techniques to complete a capable sacred sword. On the way, Luke and Cecily again confront their growing feelings for each other. Cecily questions Luke about Seigfriend’s claim that a little bit of Lisa’s body is lost every time they enter the forging spell, but Luke insists that it’s so minimal that even a hundred forging spells would never hurt her. Sensing Luke is not being completely honest with her, Cecily presses him for something she feels he is hiding: he is stressed, silent, and had up until now always declined the Militant Power’s invitation. However, Luke claims that it is only because of Valbanill’s reawakening. Cecily reaffirms her absolute faith in Luke and his abilities to forge the sacred sword. Luke dismisses his concerns jokingly, but her confidence in him is important. That night, Luke saves Cecily from an assassin sent from the crowd power. When Cecily demands that the assassin be freed, Luke supports her and threatens to go back to the Independent Trade Cities if the Militant Power refuses. Luke and his companions reach the capital of the Militant Power without any other issues, but the blacksmiths in the city refuse to let Luke enter once he’s arrived. They see Luke’s requested presence as an insult to their own abilities and instead promise that they will forge sacred swords on their own without his or anyone else’s help. Even as the empire and the crowd power join forces, Luke remains outside the Militant Power’s smithy, begging over and over again for entry. It’s here, pleading with the lead blacksmith, that Luke confesses his secret, that time is running out—not only for Valbanill but also for him. Because of forging and the price of flesh from the forging spell, Luke has been losing sight in his remaining eye and will soon be blind. To protect Lisa from “going into oblivion together,” Luke accepted the full burden, the cost of body manifesting itself in his remaining vision. Luke and Lisa renew their efforts to gain access to the smithy, and they are finally admitted. Here, Luke creates a new smithing technique using better materials and more folds, and Lisa swears that she will become his eyes. Luke and Cecily participate in the Militant Power’s battle against forces from newly formed Imperial Allied Power, led by Seigfried, and prevent their take over. Soon after, Cecily, Lisa, and Luke return home to prepare for the upcoming Valbanill conference. Quotes * “I can only forge a katana for my own benefit. That’s…what I decided a long time ago.” * "A Demon Sword is not a toy! It's too dangerous for children!" Trivia *Luke was also in love with Lisa Oakwood, his childhood friend. Category:Male Characters Category:Main Characters